Stop Plans to Allow Kids Under 13 on Your Site

There is absolutely no proof of any meaningful social or educational value of Facebook for children under 13. Indeed, there are very legitimate concerns about privacy, as well as its impact on children's social, emotional, and cognitive development. By opening the site up to kids younger than 13, Facebook’s strategy appears to be: Hook children early, build the brand, and create customers for life, regardless of the consequences.

Parents and educators agree this is a terrible idea: Young children do not need to be on social networks with 1000 friends when they're 7 or 8 years old. Kids this young are still learning to navigate their offline life – learning how to play and engage with others – and don’t need the added complexity of managing a Facebook social profile. What's next, Facebook for Toddlers?

I just signed a petition that calls for Facebook to stop its plans to allow kids under 13 on Facebook.

There is absolutely no proof of any meaningful social or educational value of Facebook for children under 13. Indeed, there are very legitimate concerns about privacy as well as its impact on the social, emotional, and cognitivedevelopment of children.

By opening the site up to kids younger than 13, Facebook’s strategy appears to be: hook children early, build the brand, and create customers for life, regardless of the consequences.

Parents and educators agree this is a terrible idea: young children do not need to be on social networks with 1000 friends when they are 7 or 8 years old. Kids this young are still learning to navigate their offline life – learning how to play and engage with others – and don’t need the added complexity of managing an online social profile. What's next, Facebook for toddlers?

I hope you will take the concerns of parents seriously and reconsider your plans to allow kids under 13 on Facebook.